sJH^\JJl.J)xJJzzs
Boeing adds 163 'unidentified'
orders to swell backlog list
GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC
BOEING HAS added 163 air craft to its firm order backlog
by revoking its policy of not listing
sales to unidentified customers.
The aircraft, ordered over the past
two years, are valued at S9 billion.
The US manufacturer says its
move to "adopt an industry-wide
practice" and include unidentified
customers adds 99 aircraft to its
1999 order intake, taking the total
so far to 368. This figure includes
the newly announced sale of 20 air
craft to US leasing company GE
Capital Aviation Services.
The move boosts Boeing's order
backlog to 1,527 aircraft as ot 15
December, compared with Airbus
Industrie's 1,436 to the end of
November. Airbus has taken 417
firm orders so far in 1999, bringing
the industry total to 785 aircraft,
compared with 1,200 in 1998.
Boeing's 163 new orders from
undisclosed customers include:
• a 737 Classic (a -300 believed to
be for Air New Zealand);
• 131 Next Generation 73 7s;
•a 747-400 (believed to be for Uni-
Boeing hopes recovering Asian carriers will boost sales fortunes in 2000
ted Arab Emirates Amiri Flight);
• 14757-200s;
• 12 767s;
• four 777s (two -200ERs and two
-300s).
The GECAS deal, worth $2.6
billion, includes 15 767-300ERs
and five 747-400F freighters. All
aircraft are powered bv General
Electric CF6-80C2s and will be
delivered to GECAS beginning in
the fourth quarter of 2000. Boeing
says the leasing company has the
option of substituting stretched
767-400ERs for 767-300ERs.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Group president Alan Mulally says
die company is "on track" to deliv
er a record 620 aircraft in 1999, and
forecasts it will deliver 480 "or a lit
tle higher" in 2000. He expects
order intake in 2000 to be "about
the same level or slightly higher
than this year- if Asia comes back
as expected".
Acknowledging that Boeing's
order intake, even including the
newly revealed unidentified cus
tomers, is down on 1998's total of
648 aircraft, Mulally argues that
deliveries should be used as the
measure of market leadership. •
See Air Transport, PI 2, and
Forecasts PP24-31.
Irish pave way for
Aer Lingus offer
THE IRISH Government has approved die flotation of
shares in flag carrier Aer Lingus,
paving die way for an initial public
offering by early 2 001.
Public enterprise minister Mary
O'Rourke indicates Dublin may
dispose of its 95% holding in Aer
Lingus, but the government is
opposed to the carrier's oneworld
partners British Airways and
American Airlines securing a stake.
Aer Lingus chairman Bernie
Cahill welcomed the government
decision, saying privatisation is a
fundamental requirement to pro
vide the capital needed to expand
the carrier, "particularly in the con
text of its recently announced
alliance strategy with the oneworld
grouping". 3
Air Canada secures hold
on Canadian's Tokyo slots
A IR CANADA has achieved one of the main goals in its bid
for Canadian Airlines Internation
al by buying Canadian's landing
slots at Tokyo's Narita Airport,
enabling it to launch direct
Toronto-Tokyo services.
The deal will also provide cash-
strapped Canadian with bridging
finance until its C$92 million
($62.5 million) takeover by Air
Canada is complete.
Canadian cut direct Toronto-
Tokyo services in 1998 to save
money, but continues to serve the
route with a stop in Vancouver.
On completion of the acquisi
tion early in 2000, Air Canada
plans to launch a series of new
routes to destinations in Asia and
Europe
• InterCanadian Airlines, which
Stopped flying on 27 November
because of a lack of funds, has
received an offer from a union-
backed investment fund. Financial
terms of the proposal were not dis
closed. Under the proposal from
the Quebec Solidarity Fund, the
airline, which fed Canadian from
the five eastern provinces, would
serve Quebec only.
The workforce would also be
reduced from 900 to a maximum of
400, and die 2 3 -strong aircraft fleet
cut to 10. Most of the aircraft have
already been seized because of
unpaid fees. J
Aerospace Awards
judges named
Flight International has lined up a
distinguished panel of judges for
the Aerospace Industry Awards
2000. The panel will consist of Don
Bateman, chief engineer of flight
safety avionics at Honeywell (for
merly AlliedSignal) and the Right
International Aerospace Personality
of the Year 1999; Graham Forbes,
chief executive of the UK's General
Aviation Manufacturers & Traders
Association (GAMTA); Gen Richard
Hawley, retired commander of US
Air Combat Command; Brian Rowe,
chairman emeritus of GE Aircraft
Engines; and Peter Sutch, executive
director of John Swire & Sons and
former chairman of Cathay Pacific
Airways. The closingdate for entries
for the Aerospace Industry Awards
2000 is 31 December. 1999, and
entries will be judged on 10 and 11
January. The awards will be pre
sented at a gala dinner during the
Asian Aerospace show in
Singapore on 23 February
AMR plans to spin off
Sabre information
technology arm
A MERICAN Airlines' parent AMR is to spin off its comput
er reservations and IT subsidiary
Sabre as a separate company, allow
ing it to focus on the airline and its
sister regional airline, American
Eagle.
AMR will spin off its 83% inter
est in Sabre early next year by dis
tributing its 107 million shares in
die business to AMR shareholders.
Sabre will become a "fully inde
pendent technology company"
under a new president and chief
executive, William I Iannigan, who
joins from telecommunications
companv Southwestern Bell.
Sabre was originally part of
American Airlines but became a
separate subsidiary in 1996, when
an initial public offering made
18% of the company's shares avail
able to investors.
Before the spin-off, Sabre will
pay a one-off S675 million cash
dividend to shareholders, includ
ing AMR. 3
6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 December 1999 - 3 January 2000